Flight has fascinated mankind for quite some time. Kites were one of mankind's first attempts to overcome their inability to fly. Since the first kites were developed, many advances have taken place. These advances have led to substantial improvements in the ability to control the movement of kites.
Recent technological advances have brought about a revolution in light weight, high strength materials. These materials have been incorporated into kite manufacture and flight to enable the production of light weight kites that can be readily flown under even negligible wind conditions. Additionally, these technological advances have been incorporated into the development of line control kites, i.e., stunt kites. While having the ability to fly under negligible wind conditions, stunt kites also are capable of performing a wide variety of acrobatic maneuvers when controlled by a skilled flyer.
Stunt kites are controlled by a plurality of relatively short lines that facilitate control over the movement of the air bound kite, whereas conventional kites are generally controlled by a single line retained on a spool that allows the kite to travel as far away as a user is willing to risk.
A stunt kite is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,736,914 to Tabor. The kite contains a continuous compression support structure. The framework is comprised of continuous compression members (struts) that are rigidly, or semi-rigidly, connected. The continuous use of compression makes them more susceptible to breaking during crashes and large wind loads. Breaking results because the compression structures only have the ability to relieve stress through bending, thereby focusing the stress on bending members which will normally break under such circumstances.
Other stunt kites have increased weight due to the use of heavy gauge rubber and metal connectors to join spars in continuous compression. Some kites utilize dacron pockets running continuously along the leading edge of the kite sails to attach the kite sail to the support spars. This adds undesirable weight to the kite.
In addition to reducing the weight of a stunt kite to its minimum, the kite must be designed to enable a user to readily and reliably control the kite under all weather and wind conditions. Two types of four line control are known in the prior art. The first provides independent wing control. As a result, a user can readily lose control of the kite when either wing is over controlled.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,120,006 to Hadzicki discloses a kite flying device having independent controls for the left and right wings. As the various embodiments disclosed in the patent show, the kite may be controlled by two, four or six hand controlled lines. Additionally, the sheet and struts which make up the kite are manufactured from low weight high strength materials which improve the strength to weight ratio required for optimizing the functional ability of stunt kites.
Similar independent wing control kites are disclosed by Tabor, U.S. Pat. No. 4,892,272 to Hadzicki, U.S. Pat. No. 4,981,273 to Petteys, U.S. Pat. No. 4,958,787 to Sterling.
A second type of control assembly utilizes a wind inflated air foil. These kites contain many panels and bridal lines, and, consequently, can be very difficult to manufacture. If the bridal lines are not perfectly correct in size, the kite will not be able to fly properly.
However, despite the prior art attempts to develop "controllable" kites, prior art kites fail to provide the control necessary to permit a skilled flyer to optimally control the kite through intricate maneuvers, while also allowing novice flyers to use the kite without getting frustrated before they begin to master the controlled movement of the kite. The present invention overcomes the disadvantages of the prior art kites.